Recently, to promote safety when a vehicle is being driven, a lane departure warning system (LDWS) configured to detect a lane using an imaging device (e.g., a camera, video camera, etc.) installed within a vehicle and configured to output an alarm to a driver as necessary has been installed in vehicles. The LDWS may be classified as a scheme using an imaging device positioned near an inside mirror, a scheme using a rear imaging device, and a scheme using a photo sensor installed in a lower portion of a vehicle according to installation positions of the imaging device used in the LDWS.
One problematic issue, however, in relation to the LDWS is how a lane is accurately recognized from an image obtained from the imaging device. For example, there is a possibility in which information of a lane may be distorted due to a guard rail positioned adjacent to a lane while the vehicle is being driven, or a shadow of the guard rail, and it may be difficult to distinguish between the lane and the guard rail from an image obtained by the imaging device.